Gregory William Hands was born on 14 November 1965 and is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament for Chelsea and Fulham, previously Hammersmith and Fulham, since 2005.
34 Facts About Greg Hands
2.
Greg Hands has been the MP for Chelsea and Fulham since 2010; the constituency was created that year by the splitting of the former constituencies of Kensington and Chelsea and Hammersmith and Fulham.
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Greg Hands served in Prime Minister David Cameron's Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2015 until 2016.
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Greg Hands voted for the UK to remain in the European Union during the 2016 Brexit referendum.
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Greg Hands resigned in 2018, citing his opposition to the proposed expansion of Heathrow Airport, but returned to the position as Minister of State for Trade Policy in February 2020 under Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
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In September 2021, Greg Hands was appointed Minister of State for Business, Energy and Clean Growth.
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Greg Hands was born on 14 November 1965 to British parents in New York City.
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Greg Hands lived in the United States until he was seven years old and his family moved back to the UK.
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Greg Hands completed his secondary education at Dr Challoner's Grammar School, Amersham in 1984.
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Greg Hands went on to attend Robinson College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a first in Modern History in 1989.
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Greg Hands joined the Conservative Party as a student, served as the chairman of the Cambridge University Conservative Association, and was on the Executive Committee of the Cambridge University Students' Union.
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Greg Hands worked on trading floors in derivatives at the City of London and New York City until 1997.
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Greg Hands was elected as a councillor in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in 1998.
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Greg Hands became the leader of the Conservative group in 1999, remaining in that capacity until 2003.
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Greg Hands stood down as councillor for the Town ward in Fulham at the local elections in 2006, having been elected to the House of Commons at the 2005 general election when he gained Hammersmith and Fulham from the Labour Party with a majority of 5,029 votes.
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Greg Hands made his maiden speech on 26 May 2005, in which he referred to the fact that the BBC was the largest employer in his constituency and that Hammersmith Broadway was the busiest road interchange in Europe.
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Greg Hands was early in his interest in the subject of MPs expenses, causing the whips to attempt to dissuade him.
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In 2007, Greg Hands was selected to be the Conservative candidate for the new Chelsea and Fulham parliamentary constituency.
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In January 2009, Greg Hands was appointed to the Conservative front bench team as a shadow Treasury minister.
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Greg Hands is the Parliamentary chairman of Conservative Friends of Poland.
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On 14 October 2011, Greg Hands was appointed as an assistant government whip in the House of Commons as a consequence of the mini-reshuffle following the resignation of Liam Fox as Secretary of State for Defence.
22.
In 2013, Greg Hands voted in favour of legalising same-sex marriage in England and Wales.
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Greg Hands was appointed Government Deputy Chief Whip and Treasurer of the Household in October 2013.
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In May 2015, following the Conservatives' general election win under the stewardship of David Cameron, Greg Hands was promoted by him to the position of Chief Secretary to the Treasury and thus the Cabinet.
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Greg Hands campaigned for the UK to remain in the European Union in the 2016 referendum vote to leave the European Union.
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Greg Hands voted against the Withdrawal Agreement in the first Meaningful Vote, but voted in favour of it in the second and third meaningful votes, stating that the deal had been improved.
27.
On 21 June 2018, Greg Hands resigned his ministerial post to vote against a third runway at Heathrow Airport.
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Alongside former neighbouring MPs Justine Greening and Zac Goldsmith, Greg Hands has been critical of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham's April 2019 decision to close Hammersmith Bridge to motor vehicles, and has called for the bridge to be promptly repaired and re-opened.
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Greg Hands was re-elected as MP for Chelsea and Fulham at the 2019 general election.
30.
Greg Hands was appointed Minister of State for Trade Policy in the second Johnson ministry during the 2020 cabinet reshuffle.
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In May 2020, Parliament's Standards and Privileges Committee censured Greg Hands for misusing public funds relating to stationery and pre-paid House of Commons envelopes.
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In November 2021, Greg Hands followed his party three line whip to vote to overhaul the Standards and Privileges Committee.
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Greg Hands was appointed Minister of State for Trade Policy on 9 October 2022.
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Greg Hands says that he speaks five European languages, including German and Czech.